228: Chapter 228 Hunting and Escape

The low roar of an engine tore through the silence of the night. The bright beams of the headlights, like two massive swords of light, arrogantly pierced the darkness, sweeping across the overgrown vacant lot, piles of construction debris, and that solitary power distribution box!

Just a split second before the light beam swept over the pile of abandoned construction materials where Ling Ye was hiding, he dove deep into the narrow gap formed between two large, toppled precast concrete slabs. The gap was filled with rubble and slippery moss. He curled up inside, his body pressed tightly against the cold, rough back of the concrete slab, his heart pounding as if it were about to shatter his ribcage.

Was it that white van? Or some other vehicle?

He resisted the urge to immediately poke his head out to check, suppressing his breathing to the lowest possible level, even squinting his eyes to avoid any potential reflection. His ears, however, were like the most sensitive radar, capturing every sound from the outside.

The engine sound stopped near the power distribution box. Then came the sound of car doors opening, more than one. At least two people had gotten out. Their footsteps were steady, crunching softly on the rubble and weeds.

"Node D-11 just triggered a close-range micro-motion alarm. It shows a brief disturbance, the Rank is very low, but the timing is suspicious." A calm, almost emotionless male voice spoke, using standard common language with a sense of professional precision.

"Check the sensor status and scan the surroundings. It could be a nocturnal animal, or it could be... something else." Another voice replied, equally calm but tinged with a hint of vigilance.

It really was a sensor alarm! That "beep" was the alert! Their reaction was surprisingly fast! Were they patrolling nearby, or does this network have real-time alerts and a rapid response mechanism?

Ling Ye's heart sank to the bottom. He had been too careless, or rather, he had underestimated the sensitivity and response speed of this monitoring network. That passive sensing field was more sensitive than he had imagined!

Outside came the faint hum of instruments starting up, followed by the characteristic, rhythmic "beep-beep" of scanning equipment. The flashlight beam lit up again, but this time it was more focused, beginning to sweep rhythmically over the ground, weeds, and nearby trash piles around the power distribution box.

"No physical damage to the sensor. Data logs show the disturbance source was about 1.5 to 2.5 meters away, lasting about 3 seconds. Energy signature is weak, with no obvious contamination residue. Preliminary assessment suggests a high probability of a small mammal," the first voice reported.

"But the time is 3:20 AM, and there have been no recorded stable nocturnal mammal activity patterns in this area recently," the second voice questioned. "Expand the scanning range, including thermal imaging and life signals. Pay special attention to obstructions and building interiors."

"Understood."

The "beep-beep" of the scanner became more intense, and the flashlight beam began to move toward the pile of abandoned construction materials where Ling Ye was hiding. He could even feel a kind of invisible, slightly tingling energy scanning wave sweeping over the concrete slab he was hiding behind, like ripples in water!

It was a life signal or thermal imaging scan! The gap he was hiding in might block their line of sight, but it might not completely shield him from this kind of active detection! Moreover, the concrete slab itself would dissipate heat at night; if their equipment was advanced enough, they might be able to detect the minute temperature differences or life signs behind it!

He couldn't wait any longer! Sitting and waiting for death was a dead end!

He had to move immediately, utilizing their preliminary assessment of a "small mammal" and the cover of this complex terrain to create chaos and then escape!

Just as the flashlight beam was about to shine into the gap between the precast concrete slabs, and the scanning wave was sweeping over again—

Ling Ye moved! He didn't rush out from the gap; instead, he used all his strength to kick a half-loose, basin-sized piece of broken concrete beside him!

"Clatter—bang!"

The broken concrete block tumbled, knocking over several empty iron buckets stacked nearby, producing a series of harsh, clashing and rolling sounds that were exceptionally loud in the silent night! The source of the sound was on the other side of the construction material pile, opposite to where Ling Ye was hiding!

"Over there!" both voices hissed almost simultaneously! The flashlight beam and scanning wave instantly turned toward the direction the sound came from! Footsteps approached rapidly!

This was it!

Like a cheetah that had been poised for a long time, Ling Ye sprinted silently from the other end of the concrete slab gap (the direction away from the source of the sound)! He didn't run away immediately but kept his body low, using the shadows of several leaning wooden boards to dash like lightning to the back of the nearest half-collapsed brick wall.

He had just hidden himself when he heard the footsteps of the two people stop at the place where he had just made the noise.

"It's rocks and iron buckets. There are signs of human kicking," the first voice went cold. "It's not an animal. The intruder is still nearby, hasn't run far. Seal off this area, call for support, and initiate wide-area life scanning."

"Understood. Alert has been issued. The target may possess a certain level of counter-reconnaissance awareness, be careful."

Damn! They had seen through it! And they immediately called for support! Once support arrived and formed a perimeter, he wouldn't be able to escape even with wings!

He had to break out before they completed the encirclement! This area wasn't very large, but the terrain was complex—this was his only advantage!

Ling Ye did not hesitate any longer; he identified his direction. The several retreat routes he had planned were likely already anticipated or were currently being blocked. He needed an unexpected path.

His gaze fell on the five-story abandoned residential building not far away, which he had used as an observation point that afternoon. Although dilapidated, the building had a complex structure with many rooms, and... behind the building was that area of low ruins with collapsed roofs, connecting to the edge of the vast, maze-like shantytown. If he could rush into that building and use the terrain to maneuver, there might still be a glimmer of hope!

But there was an open space of about thirty meters in between, and those two were currently nearby; their flashlights and scanning equipment were likely covering that area.

Do or die!

Ling Ye took a deep breath, adjusting his state to the limit. He no longer deliberately hid his footsteps completely but exploded his speed to the maximum, like an arrow released from the string, dashing out from behind the brick wall. He didn't charge in a straight line toward the residential building but first feinted toward another direction (a denser patch of wild weeds), then suddenly veered, sprinting with all his might toward the side of the residential building in a zigzag path!

"Over there! The target is moving!" a sharp shout rang out immediately! The flashlight beam and that tingling scanning wave instantly locked onto his moving silhouette!

"Bang! Bang!"

Two gunshots, muffled by suppressors but still crisp, rang out! The bullets struck the ground behind Ling Ye, splashing up gravel and dust! The opponents were shooting directly! Clearly, they had already listed him as a high-threat target and were no longer keeping him alive!

Ling Ye felt a chill down his back; the stimulation of being on the verge of life and death pushed his potential to the max! He pushed his irregular movement to the extreme, utilizing every tiny terrain fluctuation and obstruction, his body flickering like a ghost! Several more bullets flew past his body, hitting the wall beside him with a dull "thud-thud" sound!

The thirty-meter distance, which would normally be covered in an instant, felt as long as a century now! He could feel that cold sense of being locked on like a maggot on the bone, following him closely!

Five meters, three meters, he made it!

With a dive, he plunged through a broken first-floor window on the side of the residential building. Upon landing, he rolled with the momentum and crashed into a room filled with clutter, kicking up a cloud of dust.

Almost at the same time he dove through the window, at least three bullets struck the window frame and the wall beside it, sending brick and stone fragments flying everywhere!

Ling Ye couldn't spare a moment to catch his breath, nor did he care about the new wounds scratched by broken glass and debris on his body. He immediately scrambled up and rushed toward the direction of the stairs in his memory! He couldn't stay on the first floor; it was too easy to get cornered!

The stairwell was piled with rubble; he used his hands and feet, climbing upward like an ape! Behind him, the sounds of pursuers entering the building, stepping on broken glass and rubble, had already arrived, along with rapid footsteps and short communication sounds:

"Target entered Building B-7, first floor. Currently moving upward."

"Support will arrive in one minute, seal off all exits."

"Initiate thermal imaging scan inside the building, clear floor by floor."

Ling Ye rushed to the second floor, didn't stop, and continued upward! He didn't dare take the normal stairwell; it was too easy to be anticipated. He chose to rush out through the broken door of a room on the second floor, dash into the corridor, and then smash open another door, looking for an exit from the window on the other side of that room, leading to a fire escape (if there was one) or the outer wall.

But when he rushed into that room, his heart sank abruptly—the window on the other end of the room was nailed shut, and outside was a sturdy anti-theft grille! And from the other end of the corridor, the footsteps of the approaching pursuers could already be heard!

No way forward, pursuers behind! He was trapped in this room!

No! There was still above!

Ling Ye looked up and saw, in one corner of the room's ceiling, a damaged ventilation duct maintenance hatch leading upstairs. The cover was already gone, leaving only a pitch-black hole, about half a meter square.

There was no time to hesitate! He kicked hard off the broken cabinet beside him, leaped up using the momentum, grabbed the edge of the hole with both hands, engaged his core, did a pull-up, thrust his upper body into the hole, and then used his hands and feet to scramble upward desperately!

Just at the moment his feet left the top of the cabinet below—

"Bang!"

The room door was kicked open violently! Two figures wearing dark combat uniforms, holding submachine guns with suppressors and strange scanning equipment, rushed in! The flashlight beam instantly lit up the room and also illuminated Ling Ye's legs just about to disappear into the ventilation duct opening!

"In the ventilation duct! Upward!" one person shouted sharply, raising their muzzle!

Ling Ye used his last bit of strength, pulled his entire body completely into the duct, and then scrambled desperately along the upward-sloping duct, crawling deeper inside!

"Thud, thud, thud!" Bullets struck the wall below the duct opening and the metal wall of the duct, making muffled impact sounds, sparks flying everywhere! A few bullets even grazed the inner wall of the duct, and the scorching airflow burned Ling Ye's calves!

But he couldn't care about the pain anymore; there was only one thought in his mind: Upward! Further upward! Get out of this death trap!

The inside of the duct was pitch black, filled with the smell of dust and rust. He could only rely on his feeling and the angle of the duct's slope to scramble upward desperately. Behind him, the footsteps and shouts of the pursuers seemed to be muffled a bit, but they hadn't disappeared; they were likely looking for other paths to the upper floors, or waiting for him below like rabbits!

He didn't know where this duct led, only that it seemed to be going up. He didn't know how long he had been climbing—maybe only a dozen seconds, but it felt like a century. Suddenly, a sliver of extremely faint light appeared ahead, along with... the sound of wind?

Was it an exit?

He used his last bit of strength to crawl toward the light. The light grew closer, and the sound of the wind grew louder. Finally, he crawled to the end of the duct. This was a damaged ventilation shaft exit leading to the roof; the cover was long gone. The exit opened at the edge of the roof, and outside was the vast, gravel-covered rooftop and the leaden-gray, oppressive sky that felt as if it were within reach.

Ling Ye poked his head out from the exit and scanned quickly.

The roof was empty, with only a few abandoned solar water heater brackets and a pile of clutter. The night wind was biting, blowing his tattered clothes until they flapped loudly. Below, on the street, two other unmarked black off-road vehicles could already be seen speeding over. Harsh screeching of brakes rang out, and more figures in combat uniforms jumped out of the vehicles, quickly spreading out and beginning to surround the building! In the distance, it seemed that more vehicle lights were approaching!

A dragnet!

He looked back at the ventilation shaft exit; the pursuers could come up from below at any moment, or flank him to the roof via other paths.

A desperate situation.

But in Ling Ye's eyes, that cold flame burned even more fiercely. He glanced at the edge of the roof. This five-story building was about fifteen meters high. Behind the building was that area of low ruins with mostly collapsed roofs. The nearest ruin roof was about four or five meters away from this building, but there was a height difference of at least two floors.

Jump across? Below was hard ground and gravel; at this height and distance, falling would mean death or disability.

His gaze fell on the pile of clutter at the edge of the roof. There, there were a few rusted steel bars as thick as a thumb, along with some broken metal brackets and ropes used to secure the water heaters.

An extremely crazy idea flashed through his mind like lightning.

He rushed over and, with the fastest speed, picked up the two relatively longest steel bars (about three meters each). Using the roll of thin wire he carried with him, he tightly bound them end-to-end to form a temporary, longer, but extremely unstable "long pole." Then, he firmly tied one end of this temporary pole to a still-sturdy, abandoned concrete base at the edge of the roof. The other end extended outside the building, hanging in the air and pointing toward the direction of the ruins.

Next, he tore off his tattered canvas jacket, quickly cut several long strips of cloth with a pipe cutter, and twisted the remaining cloth strips into a rough "rope." He tied one end to his waist and the other end to the middle section of the protruding steel long pole.

All this took less than twenty seconds. Below, the sounds of door-bashing and hurried footsteps climbing the stairs had already arrived! The pursuers were coming up!

There was no time to check if it was secure.

Ling Ye took a deep breath, stepped back a few paces, and then suddenly accelerated forward! The moment he reached the edge of the roof, he leaped, gripping the end of the steel long pole extending outside the building tightly with both hands. With the momentum, his body swung out into the void outside the building like Tarzan!

"Creak—!!"

The temporarily bound steel bars emitted an unbearable, teeth-grinding groan and friction sound! It seemed as if they would break or come loose in the next second!

Ling Ye's body traced a thrilling arc in the air, falling toward the low ruin roof below! The cloth "rope" at his waist instantly pulled taut, transmitting a huge pulling force that slowed his descent, but it also choked him until he was almost suffocated!

"Bang!"

His feet landed heavily on a relatively intact, asbestos-tiled sloping roof in that ruin area! The tremendous impact caused his legs to go weak, and he almost fell to his knees. A large section of the roof's asbestos tiles was crushed, producing a loud shattering sound! The cloth "rope" around his waist snapped at this moment!

He didn't have time to rejoice, nor did he care to check if his legs were injured. He immediately scrambled down from the sloping roof, landed on the ground below piled with broken bricks and mud, and then, without looking back, ran with all his might toward the deeper, darker direction of the ruins!

Behind him, on the roof of that five-story building, came furious roars and sporadic gunfire, but the bullets all hit empty air. The temporarily bound steel long pole seemed to have snapped and come loose shortly after he swung out, as it couldn't bear the weight and pulling force, falling off the building.

Ling Ye's silhouette, like ink dropped into water, quickly disappeared into the maze-like, complex, and dark depths of the ruins. All that remained was the area behind him that had been disturbed, where more lights were gradually turning on and more engine sounds were ringing out, and in the night wind, the faint, lingering echoes of the ceaseless, cold chase between hunter and prey.